The 2012 Bob Dylan Revival Night happens Saturday, May 19th at Patrick's Pub, 381 Smith St. in Providence. Cover is $8; cocktails at 7 p.m., obscure videos at 8, Dylan covers by The Bus Kings at 9, and heartfelt dedications at 11.

The annual gathering, close to Dylan's May 24 birthday, is a laid-back ritual of respect. The theme this year is Dylan as Muse, although it always is, one way or another:

Those of all ages whose lives were changed, paths altered, because of this man and his "words that came from you and me" have gathered as a spontaneous tribe for decades on Smith Hill. It's a night for homey non-commercial appreciation of Bob, a tribute to our younger selves, and to him, still on the road.

Update: Thanks to Jim McGetrick of the Dylan Night Committee for sending along a rehearsal clip of the Bus Kings' cover of Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. (mp3)

This just in: There's also a Dylanfest in Pascoag Saturday, 8 p.m., The Columbus Club, 99 Roosevelt Avenue. More info: 568-7153. It's the 15th anniversary of this event presented by WICN disc jockey Nick DiBiasio. The Zimmermen, an ad hoc Dylan cover band of local musicians, will play.

Flowers from their yard, looking fine on my porch.

The Tweets of each truck merge into one chronological update stream. They announce where they will be or are for lunch, dinner and late night, and, sometimes, what they're serving.

The list so far, an even dozen 13:

Chez Pascal/ Truck
fancheezical
Like No Udder
Mama Kim's
Mijos Tacos
plouf gastronomie
Poco Loco Tacos
PVD Pudding Pops
Rocket Street Food
ROXY'S LOBSTER
sugarush

And, just added: Julian's, after seeing it on lower N. Main Street yesterday.

Updated May 13, 9:10 a.m. Just added Flour Girls Baking.

Here's the whole feed on Twitter, though where the trucks were yesterday is yesterday's news.

There are bound to be more joining the procession -- please let me know of others we've missed.

Editor's note: There's an odd little Twitter bug in this feed -- when you add a new source, all that source's Tweets from the beginning of time pour in below its most recent update. This shakes out as new Tweets from other sources pile in, but it makes for a few hours of ugly feed. Julian's, just added, is doing that now. If you're reading this some other day, you won't see the glitch. (I'll try to add new feeds when it's been a long time since they've updated -- that way, newer tweets seem to re-sort themselves to the top within 15 minutes or so.)

Meet Silk, the Semantic Web for the rest of us

Almost since Tim Berners-Lee first came up with the original concept of the web, there's been a new, improved version on the horizon: the much-promised Semantic Web. This, goes the thinking, is a way to make the online world more useful by categorizing everything on a page with a layer of extra information -- data that can tell your browser that one particular series of numbers is a date, say, while another is a price. This, in turn, allows your computer to understand more about the information it processes, theoretically making it easier to identify events on the date you're looking for, or items at the price you've chosen.

It's an ambitious goal that has been chased by many folk over the years -- and yet, for all the effort to bring the Semantic Web to life, the reality of the situation is that it always feels just out of reach ... something talked about and hoped for, but never achieved. The truth is that while some progress has been made, we're still a long way from reaching that vision.

Or are we?

Silk, an application coming out of private beta on Thursday, has a grand ambition to build a version of the Semantic Web that we can all use...

I've just signed up. More after I poke around.

It's not quite the dream of a common language, but a set of plastic adapters that let construction toys of different sorts operate together. You can extrude them yourself if you have a Makerbot Replicator and the right plastic.

More about "UCK":

F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab are pleased to present the Free Universal Construction Kit: a matrix of nearly 80 adapter bricks that enable complete interoperability between ten* popular children's construction toys. By allowing any piece to join to any other, the Kit encourages totally new forms of intercourse between otherwise closed systems--enabling radically hybrid constructive play, the creation of previously impossible designs, and ultimately, more creative opportunities for kids. As with other grassroots interoperability remedies, the Free Universal Construction Kit implements proprietary protocols in order to provide a public service unmet--or unmeetable--by corporate interests.

 

The Free Universal Construction Kit offers adapters between Lego, Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears! Gears! Gears!, K'Nex, Krinkles (Bristle Blocks), Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Zome, and Zoob. Our adapters can be downloaded from Thingiverse.com and other sharing sites as a set of 3D models in .STL format, suitable for reproduction by personal manufacturing devices like the Makerbot (an inexpensive, open-source 3D printer).

It would seem that your $1,749 Makerbot Replicator could pay for itself if you offer the actual extruded pieces as a kit -- it seems to exist only as free downloadable "patterns" for the 3D printer at the moment. This isn't in any store.

A search for Universal Construction Kit at Shapeways, which will do this sort of extruding for you, yields 36 products.

Here's the story, from the Independent (U.K.): I am Hellene: Angry actress hits back at Greek stereotypes in debt crisis with viral video

The 'I am Hellene' video, showing Greek anger at austerity, has gone viral and actress Katerina Moutsatsou has set social networks on fire.

 

Ms Moutsatsou, who has been living and working in LA since 2008, explains that the right name to call the people of her country is "Hellenes" and not "Greeks" (Graecus).

 

The original idea of the video belongs to an advertisement of Molson Canadian Beer, aired in Canada and the USA some six years ago. The idea was also used in a popular ad campaign centered on Canadian nationalism.

The wags at Metafilter have at it all: I am Hellene, including political context in advance of elections and links to a couple of popular parodies Katerina's video has spawned.

Can't wait for the many ways we'll see "I am America."

Or "I am Rhode Island":

"I am not a New Yorker and I say my 'R's and I seldom leave Rhode Island because there's no good reason to except Disney World... We invented freedom of religion and still fight about what God wants... Quahaugs Casino may be in our future but we wouldn't order it on a bet -- that's a tough one. Our most beloved icons in this land of Hasbro are a razed amusement park and a giant blue termite...and Junior Seau was one of us, dammit..."

President Obama at White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night.

AP

Actress Viola Davis on the red carpet as she arrives at the White House Correspondents Dinner Sautday night.

I'd be remiss if I didn't congratulate the Huffington Post on their Pulitzer Prize. (Applause.) You deserve it, Arianna. There's no one else out there linking to the kinds of hard-hitting journalism that HuffPo is linking to every single day. (Laughter and applause.) Give them a round of applause. And you don't pay them -- it's a great business model. (Laughter.)

WaPo: White House correspondents' dinner: Where Hollywood, Capitol Hill shine

NYT: Much Fodder for Obama at White House Journalists' Event

HuffPo used AP for the main story -- White House Correspondents Dinner 2012: Obama Gives Speech At Annual Event.

Its own coverage was Jimmy Kimmel Addresses Marijuana Legalization At White House Correspondents' Dinner 2012.

In tribute to the webcams that let us stare for hours at wild birds, hoping to catch a glimpse of eggs or chicks, NPR's third-floor Washington news desk is hosting NPR's Official AntCam: harvester ants that bite, in nutritious blue goo.

The story: LIVE: Can You Dig It? Introducing NPR's Official AntCam.

The instigating editor's story: Ant Farm: The Big Chill And Tunnels Of Love.

The "farm" -- it's really a prison -- is small, 6.5 inches by 5.5 inches and 1.25-inch deep. Although a mail-order coupon for ants comes with the farm, you can also order ants online, which owners say is faster.

If you're even remotely interested in reproducing this science project on your news desk, read some of the 175 comments at Amazon on Fascinations AntWorks Illuminated Blue to benefit from others' experience:

-- In case you are wondering, you DO NOT get a queen so the ants will live their life expectancy and then die. You don't get baby ants without a queen.

-- The kit comes with instructions for collecting ants yourself, but I live in Texas where the only ants are fire ants. The instruction book tells you to NOT collect fire ants, nor army ants.

-- The life-span of the ants is about 3 months

-- It's important to let the fresh air in because they seem to get depressed and slow down without it. Best to put them in the fridge for ten minutes beforehand to calm them before opening the lid.

-- It is definitely fascinating to watch the ants build tunnels. Once they start dying it is somewhat sad and dissapointing.

-- What has gotten really interesting is watching the ants chew through the rubber/silicone seals in the corners of the lid.

-- Due to health and mortality concerns, my son would not allow me to put a drop of nail polish on the back of one ant so that we could name him and chart his/her progress.

-- the clerk at the science store said the gel is reusable, that is, when the old ants all die, I can add more ants. That would also be interesting - would they close off the old tunnels and build new ones? Would they use the ones that exist?

-- really cool for the first 2 weeks then the ants all kinda just chill on the bottom after all the tunnels are built!

-- The ants become family members

-- The ants died in the first day. These were active ants who not only died, but there was no trace left behind? The lid was tight a nd in place an we are still bewildered.

-- CATCHING ANTS: DIFFICULT WITH THE INCLUDED TOOLS

-- The ants are huge!! THEY WILL BITE!!

"The red harvester ant venom is more toxic than cobra venom but fortunately the dose is much smaller." -- Wikipedia

Hours of newsroom fun.

Quick slideshow of New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant To See is a teaser, a selection heavy on sexual foibles.

Next week marks the publication of Françoise Mouly's "Blown Covers," a book whose subtitle says it all: "New Yorker covers you were never meant to see." Mouly, who is the art editor at the magazine, describes how iconic New Yorker covers came to be, and also, how some covers never came to be. Here, she shares a selection of those new classics plus the cover ideas that were either too naughty, too crazy, or simply too ahead of their time.

Art editor Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman also have a Blown Covers blog which comprises way more, including contest and themes. Its archive is a lovely, browsable collection of vertical images.

The blog excerpts some of the book, such as the image above:"Harry Bliss submitted this sketch in 1997 in response to Mayor Giuliani's reluctance to investigate the police who tortured Haitian immigrant Abner Louima."

Beautiful and early, American Wisteria blooms on the north side of a fence.

Live! Great Blue Heron Nest at Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Status update: The herons have five eggs. Hatching is predicted to begin in the last week of April or first week of May.

The Red-tailed Hawks also have a webcam, and three eggs -- one hatched, another hatching now. There's a dead pigeon in the nest, too: Lunch.

The three Decorah (Iowa) bald eagles who hatched between Feb. 17 and 24 have large feet:

The Providence Peregrine Falcon Webcam is currently down, damaged by the recent storm, but is expected back up. is back up, with a bird's-eye view of Rt. 95 as a backdrop.

Photo / Frank Lennon

Former Red Sox pitchers Bill ("Spaceman") Lee, left, and Dick Drago at a Red Sox Alumni reception in Fenway's upper level EMC Club Thursday night. According to team representatives, some 230 former ballplayers are returning to celebrate the park's 100th anniversary,

Today is my brother's birthday, and he's enjoying the gift of his lifetime: Frank Lennon is former Red Sox pitcher Dick Drago's guest at the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park -- access everywhere, hanging out with Fenway's legends, no lines, no waiting.

For my brother, raised when you could walk down the street in summer and listen to Curt Gowdy broadcasting the Sox game through the screens of every house, this is heaven.

Frank and Dick met when they both worked in Boston in the '70s, and remained friends. Drago spends summers in Providence in the house I grew up in, and flees to Tampa, Fla., before the snow flies. The family, plus Dick, comes to my house every Sunday, often bringing Dick's tasty guacamole.

Wednesday night they came over to borrow our cameras -- Frank's was broken and Dick, amazingly, had forgotten to bring one.

Here's what's coming back from them -- lots of pitchers. That's Luis Tiant at right.

The Red Sox had college students and others stand in for the players at the dress rehearsal for Friday's opening ceremonies. That's P.C. grad and former Sox infielder Lou Merloni in the white shirt in the foreground.

Frank Lennon

Drago: The view from the mound again

Pitchers Oil Can Boyd and Jose Santiago.

photo / Dick Drago

Frank Lennon: "Best birthday present ever!"

Brent Hallenbeck has fun with Saturday's Guinness Record-busting volunteer cowbell orchestra (Ding along: Phish drummer leads 1,600 fans to cowbell glory) at the Burlington Free Press.

By the time Phish drummer Jon Fishman came on stage just after 4 and introduced the "World Record Breaking Event Band," the cowbell-wielding crowd was ready to play. Fishman -- manning the cowbell, of course -- and his five band mates led by Burlington vocalist Joshua Panda launched into the cowbell-intensive classic-rock song "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers, and roughly 1,600 participants joined right in.

The 640 people who played in the previous Guinness World Record-certified largest ensemble, in September 2009 in Switzerland, were about to fade into cowbell oblivion.

James Lockridge of Big Heavy World, a nonprofit that promotes Vermont music, did a great job with the video above. The bellfolk are good on Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" as well, which he also shot. This song was perhaps more familiar to many in the crowd -- "Time," because of its length, never got much radio play.

There's an unembeddable, cacophanous video of some of the event at the Free Press, too.

Membership is on a sliding scale of $35 to $75 -- $50 is suggested -- which includes a 10 percent discount and early admission to City Farm's Annual Plant Sale next month and 10 percent off selected purchases at several retailers such as Seven Arrows, and Avant Gardens. In addition, members get SCLT's newsletters and more:

• Up to 50 gallons of screened compost (i.e. 10 white buckets or a garbage can)
• Seeds and other organic growing materials
• Free admission to Plant Providence workshops
• Free or reduced admission to Providence Community Growers Network events

You can join online (be sure to check the Grower's Network box) or show up Saturday at one of the "neighborhood hubs" listed below. Be sure to bring your own containers for compost. Among the seeds they'll be giving away are lettuce, spinach, beans, cucumbers, radishes, corn, carrots, tomatoes.

I'm With Kanye

Souvenir of "Texts from Hillary" co-creator Adam Smith's trip to the Secretary of State's office.

Texts from Hillary (earlier) is showing off a real text from Hillary as the Secretary of State joins the hottest meme of the week, the one about her.

Celebrity site Jezebel is atwitter (Hillary Clinton Blows Our Minds By Submitting Her Own 'Text from Hillary') beaming, "she proved that she is a pro in all things by deploying expert internet slang and managing to make herself seem even more badass than she already was. "

Know Your Meme reports,

On the afternoon of April 9th, a member of Clinton's staff contacted Lambe and Smith stating that the Secretary of State loved their blog and wanted to meet the creators. The three met up at the State Department Tuesday, April 10th, the same day in which a Clinton submitted post was published on the site. She gave Lambe and Smith autographed copies of the post she made as well.

The photo above from co-creator Adam SmithStacy Lambe's other site, I'm With Kanye, shows Adam Smith's souvenir of the trip, with a handwritten note signed "Hillz."

Cited as proof that this is all real is a telling photo of the Secretary of State flanked by two texting men.

It's "texts from Hillary," not "texts by Hillary." Don't expect her to start wearing mesh tops to show off her tats, either.

Glossary for "wrinklies":
sup: What's up?
selfie: self-portrait
omg: oh my god
sry: sorry
rofl: rolling on floor laughing
@: at
ur: your
g2g: got to go
ttyle: talk to you later